Riot to allow pro League teams to participate in Saudi-backed Esports World Cup

Riot Games will reportedly be sending League of Legends teams from its top four domestic leagues to the Saudi Arabian-backed Esports World Cup.

The leader of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, announced the Esports World Cup in October 2023 that would replace the Gamers8 tournament. Gamers8 was a massive tournament featuring multiple esports organizations from around the world competing in a wide range of esports titles.

The 2023 edition of Gamers8 featured CS:GO, Fortnite and DOTA 2, but noticeably did not feature the Riot Games titles Valorant or League of Legends.

Unlike the rest of the gaming and esports space, Riot has not been involved with Saudi Arabia outside of its brief LEC partnership with NEOM in 2020. That partnership was quickly canceled after broadcast talent for the league publicly spoke out about their disapproval.

Riot reportedly softens on Saudi association with Esports World Cup

Now, according to a report from Jacob Wolf, Riot Games is working out details to send some LoL teams from various regions to the Esports World Cup.

According to the report, Riot will allow two teams from its top leagues, the LEC, LCS, LPL and LCK, to compete in the event. However, how they will be chosen has not been disclosed.

Riot’s League of Legends head of global strategy, Chris Greeley, also asked each league to stop any activities planned during the first week of July to make room for the Esports World Cup, the report said.

If Riot follows through with the event, it will be the first international tournament not run by the developer featuring teams in its leagues in years.

The Guardian has described the country’s Public Investment Fund’s getting involved with esports on top of its previous investment in professional Golf and WWE as an “ambitious sportswashing strategy, expanding its scope of influence to not only include traditional sports and entertainment but digital space and its endless potential, as well.”

The PIF’s gaming arm, Savvy Gaming Group, acquired ESL, FACEIT and Vindex in 2023 all of which are companies that organize or broadcast esports tournaments.

Riot Games has yet to respond to the report or confirm if League of Legends will be played at the Esports World Cup.